TSA Orders Training For All CFIs By January 18
All flight instructors must complete
TSA-mandated security awareness training by next Tuesday, January
18. To help CFIs comply, the AOPA Air Safety Foundation is adding
the training at no additional cost to each of its Flight Instructor
Refresher Courses nationwide, starting this weekend.
The Air Safety Foundation's in-person courses are the only
FAA-approved flight instructor refresher courses offering this
required training, certified by the Transportation Security
Administration to meet all of the requirements of the alien flight
training/citizenship validation rule. Graduates will receive a
TSA-approved certificate proving that they've satisfied the
security awareness training requirements.
"Air Safety Foundation refresher courses have always kept CFIs
current on FAA changes," said Bruce Landsberg, AOPA Air Safety
Foundation executive director. "Now we're doing the same thing with
these mandatory TSA rules, and because AOPA is in contact with TSA
on an almost daily basis, instructors are assured of the latest
information."
In fact, TSA's own online security awareness training module is
already out of date. It doesn't include the very important notation
that flight instructors can now make a simple logbook entry to show
that they've checked a student's citizenship, rather than having to
keep copies of a student's personal papers for five years. AOPA got
that improvement to the rule last October.
Experienced instructors teach the
30-minute TSA segment as part of the "Instructor Professionalism
and Fundamentals of Instruction" unit and award the TSA-approved
completion certificates at the end of the weekend.
In the new TSA training, instructors will learn about:
- Types of suspicious behavior that require further
investigation
- Actions to take if the instructor suspects terrorist
intent
- 22 different scenarios covering actions that terrorists may
attempt at airports
The course also offers proactive suggestions for flight
instructors to upgrade security at their general aviation
airports.
Security awareness training is required of all flight
instructors and flight school employees, even if they have no
contact with foreign students. Current instructors and employees
must complete TSA-approved training by January 18. New instructors
and employees must complete security training within 60 days of the
start of employment.
The Air Safety Foundation pioneered the two-day weekend flight
instructor refresher course, starting in the mid-1970s with a
24-hour training program. In the late 1990s, the foundation's
innovative curriculum and multimedia teaching techniques convinced
the FAA to reduce the required training to 16 hours.
Flight instructors are required to renew their certificates
every two years. More than 6,000 CFIs annually choose Air Safety
Foundation instructor refresher courses to update their teaching
skills, knowledge of regulations, and to learn the latest safety
information.